


co-orbital configuration

by Splintered_Star



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Gen, Kingdom Hearts 3 spoilers, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-02-20
Packaged: 2019-10-31 21:10:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17857016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Splintered_Star/pseuds/Splintered_Star
Summary: After everything is over, there are conversations that need to happen.Post kh3





	co-orbital configuration

**Author's Note:**

> i beat the game over the weekend and all of my faves survived! even Isa, who I expected to be permadead  
> and i am deeply grateful for the happy ending they got  
> but at the same time i couldn't help thinking "okay yes i'm glad for the happy ending but all four of these people had a messy friend break up with at least one of the other three, except for the ones who were never friends and flat out hated each other. there's like at a dozen Discussions that need to happen here" 
> 
> So I wrote a couple of them. 
> 
> warnings for threats of violence in the context of a shovel talk, brief mention of gore and what i guess is technically a suicide pact? kind of

After everything is over, Roxas and Xion settled in and normal becomes something calmer, Lea flops on the couch of their new apartment, legs spread and shoulders loose.

  
Isa isn't fooled. Lea's casual sprawl is as much an artifice as Axel's was. The differences between the two are thinner than Lea likes to pretend, sometimes.

  
The tell, and the difference, lies in how Lea won't quite meet his eyes.

  
"Look, Isa, I know you and the kids - didn't get on very well, before, but -"

  
"Lea," Isa interrupts. "You love them."

  
Lea nods. The artifice has dropped. Now he is serious, somber in a way that he never was before he was Axel. Isa isn't sure when he learned it, and it hurts. Lea still won't meet his eyes.

  
"Yeah. And I love you too." Long, flame scarred fingers curl on Lea's knees. "And I don't think I can stand having to pick between you again, Ice. Not when I've gotten you all back."

  
Now, Isa looks down. Lea's expression, combined with the nickname he hasn't used since the world ended, is too much to bear.

  
"I." He takes a breath. "We will likely never be dear friends, but I will - try. To be polite."

  
Those long fingers wrap around his. Isa looks up to find Lea smiling at him, expression fond.

  
"That's all I'm asking for, Ice."

  
Isa takes Lea's hand and squeezes it, once. The old affection, the tangle of emotions he's never dared name, flares in a heart still unused to beating. Isa lets it flare, breathes through it, and it warms his whole body like the warmth of the sun.

 

 

Roxas finds him first. The boy is more relaxed now, his life defined by what he wants rather than what he must, but standing in front of the apartment is not that comfortable child. He is the Key of Destiny, the strongest of the Order.

  
Until now, they have always had Lea as a buffer. Lea, warm and accepting, dulling the edges of his friends, softening them with his warmth. Roxas has not sought him out on his own until now. But Lea is out training with his keyblade, and Roxas is here.

  
But Isa had woken this morning with images clinging to the inside of his eyes, and an ache in his mind that he still recognizes. He is not surprised when Roxas finds him.

  
"Roxas." Isa no longer knows how to address people like an equal, does not know how to be anyone but Saix. Living so long without their hearts changed things that getting them back does not reverse.

  
It doesn't bother Isa, except that it bothers Lea.

  
"Axel - Lea - has forgiven you. He trusts you." Isa nods. "I don't. I'll get along for his sake, but If you hurt him again, I'll destroy you."

  
Unbidden, Isa smiles. Roxas narrows his eyes.

  
"Good."

  
Roxas blinks, and then looks with senses most humans have not honed. Then he nods, and turns to go.

  
"Roxas." Roxas pauses in the doorway, half turned back. "...Lea destroyed himself for you once. See that he does not have reason to do again."

  
Roxas stares, and nods stiffly. Then he is gone, a flicker of light on water.

 

 

After Roxas, Isa leaves the apartment.

  
Isa shares Lea's love of climbing and high places - Lea loves the challenge, the burn of his muscles and the achievement, but Isa just loves the view, and the quiet.

  
He's at the top of a building, tucked away somewhere he can see and not be seen, watching the town move beneath him like so many planets in their own personal orbits.

  
Xion finds him anyway. He's not surprised by that any more than he was surprised by Roxas. She sits down nearby and stares down at the townspeople who do not see them.  
He respects her, in a way he does not respect Roxas. Roxas believes in justice and fairness and doing things because it's right. Xion believes in loyalty, and duty, and debt.

  
"You hurt him, you know. Axel, I mean." She says, still staring down at the city.

  
"So did you." He tries to match her tone, the calm statement of facts.

  
Xion just nods. She lets out a deep breath. "....let's both do better this time."

  
It is not forgiveness, and yet still more than he deserves.

  
"Agreed."

  
Silence, companionable, the quiet town moving beneath them.

  
"If you hurt either of them, I'll destroy you." Xion still stares down at the city.

  
"I know."

  
Here, she finally looks over. The smile she gives him looks nothing like Kairi at all.

  
"...Can I ask you a favor?" Isa hesitates, and then nods. "Before, at the end, Xemnas took over my body and made me fight Roxas. Even says that's not possible, with this body, and I know that Xemnas is gone, but..." She swallows. "It still scares me, sometimes."

  
Isa nods, slow. He has nightmares of his own, blind rage being turned against Lea, red blood and red hair in his hands. But he does not understand what she is asking, until -  
"If It happens again, would you stop me?" Isa stares. "Lea couldn't do it even when he was supposed to. I don't want to make Roxas have to again. You're the only one who could do it and not be destroyed by it, I think."

  
Isa closes his eyes. "If it is necessary, I will do what is necessary."

  
"Thank you."

  
She is still there when he opens his eyes. She offered more than required, and so, he offers in return.

  
"....I was cruel to you, before."

  
Xion shrugs one shoulder. "You were doing what you thought was necessary to keep him safe, just like I was."

  
Isa shakes his head. "Not all of it."

  
"But you thought so. Just like I thought hurting Axel would get him to give up on me."

  
Isa snorts, almost laughing. "That would never work. Lea's either not smart enough to give up or too smart to be fooled. I've never been sure which."

  
Xion giggles, hiding her face. Isa's lips curl, just a little.

  
Maybe they would never be best friends. Isa can't imagine caring for more people the way he cares for Lea - his new heart would tear under the strain of it.

  
But they might be able to... "get on", he thinks.

  
She smiles and stands and steps off the side of the building, as quick as a shadow, her landing blending in with the sounds of the city below.


End file.
